Ti3SiC2 as a candidate material for lead cooled fast reactor

One of the main issues regarding the design of LFR is the corrosion–erosion behaviour of materials in contact with high temperature and high velocity lead, such as pump impeller and bearing materials. Those materials will worked in lead at about 480 °C with a velocity relative to impeller blade in the magnitude of 10 m/s. Ti3SiC2, a ternary compound was selected as one of the most promising candidate material, the most significant aspect of Ti3SiC2 is that it combines some of the most attractive proprieties of ceramics with those of metals.This material was already applied in industry but more effort is needed to qualify its performance when compared with candidate structural stainless steel available in Europe. With the purpose of evaluating the corrosion resistance of Ti3SiC2, a preliminary screening test was carried out at ENEA Brasimone in fluent lead under oxidation conditions (oxygen concentration of about 10−6 wt% in the melt), with an average temperature of 500 °C and a stream velocity of about 1 m/s.